Las Garras
Robin came in at 8:00 a.m. that morning. I had been hoping that it would have been a "good morning" or "There's trouble downtown" but instead I got this.
"What the hell?" he demanded. I looked behind me, and then turned back to him.
"I'm sorry, I can't understand. What do you mean 'what the hell'?" I asked.
"Starfire is exhausted. She said she was up last night helping you," He said.
"Oh, right," I said, "Yes, she was a really big help. Strong girl. I really didn't think she could help me at first. But she proved me wrong." He took a few steps closer.
"Now she can't go anywhere," he said, "She's too tired to fight now."
"She made this choice to help me," I said, "And I told her many times that if she became too tired that she could go to sleep, but she helped me for a long time. Eventually I had to tell her to go to sleep."
"You should have sent her back earlier than five in the morning," He growled.
"And how would you know this?" I asked.
"I was awake," he said, "I heard that she was still up, and she was talking to you."
"Look, I don't want any trouble here," I said, "But if anyone wants to stir up trouble, I'll happily take care of it."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Robin demanded.
"You know what it means," I said, "Now get out. I have work to do." He turned and stormed away. A few seconds later I heard someone walking back in. I reached into my jacket and pulled out that cattle prod. "Alright tough guy," I said getting up out of my chair and turning around. It turned out to be Starfire. I shut the prod off. "Oh, it's you."
"Please forgive Robin," she said.
"I just don't get it," I said.
"I tried to explain that I desired to assist you," she said, "But he did not listen."
"Then there's no use trying to explain it to him," I said. I pulled a coke out from a cooler and gave it to her. "It'll help to wake you up." She nodded and pulled the tab. Then an alarm went off. I looked up at it. It was a gentle alarm, and a light above me flashed like a slow strobe. "What is this?" I asked Starfire.
"It is the crime alert alarm," she said, "We must report to the main room."
"You're too tired," I said. "I can't let you go with." A screen came on in the room. It was embedded in the window.
"There's been a murder," Robin said. The screen switched over to a map where a flashing marker pointed to our destination.
"Biohazard, please let me go with," she said.
"It's up to you," I said, "I can't force you to go with or stay. It's your choice." I turned and walked out. And as I had almost expected, Starfire followed.
As it turned out, the killer was gone when we arrived. I wasn't surprised. Some of the titans were asking people questions about the murder and they described what they had seen. I walked over to the ambulance where they had the body bag. Starfire curiously followed.
"I'd like to see the body of the victim," I said. The ambulance worker gave me the "be my guest" gesture and I unzipped the bag. The first thing that I guess really hit me was the size of the slashes and stabs. "Holy shit," I uttered, turning for a moment to take a breath and then turned around to examine it. Robin came over with the rest of them.
"The stories are all different. Half of them say it was a man, and the other half says it was an animal," he said.
"Maybe it was both," I said, putting on rubber gloves. All of them gathered around to see the body. I used my fingers to pull one of the wounds apart slightly. Some of them turned away. I quickly scanned over the body. "All of the stab marks go right through the body and some tension on the skin makes it clear that the blades used must be at least 4 feet long each. Some of the wounds seem to be in unison as if," I paused "as if each of the killers fingers were blades."
"Sounds like Freddy," Beast Boy said.
"How big was the killer described?" I asked.
"They all say that it was as big as a man," Cyborg said.
"I'll take the body back for further analysis," I said. The guy nodded and I zipped up the body bag and pulled off the rubber gloves. He packed the body in the truck and took off. I turned to the others and we started back.
"So what do you think it is?" Raven asked me.
"I don't know what exactly," I said, "But if I take a closer look I can find a way to describe it. I can already say that the weapons were about a long as swords, and thick like railroad spikes. This killer didn't make them. They're part of him."
"How do you know?" She asked.
"I just have a vague idea," I said.
Back at the tower I opened the bag again all the way. Starfire had come in to watch me work. I turned on the tape recorder.
"The victim is twenty one years old and naturally female," I said, "She has approximately seventeen wounds. Some wounds seem to have been made simultaneously, the maximum wounds made at the same time is four. She suffered one stab through the stomach which impaled her completely, three stabs to the chest area, each made in between the ribs. Nine slashes to the chest area, each slash not getting deeper than 3 inches. My assumption is that the murder weapons were spikes not knives and that is why the slash marks are not as deep. Four lacerations to the spinal area, which brings me to my conclusion that the killer was very intelligent and well read into the human anatomy. I can describe the killer as about seventeen or eighteen, 511 and male. Probably living on the streets and wearing something to conceal his claws like a trench coat or something to that extent. Killer probably has no records of his existence and if I were to make a guess is not entirely human." I hit the stop button on the tape recorder and set it down. Starfire held out a glass of water and I took it and drank it.
"Do you think it is a hybrid?" Starfire asked.
"Not really," I said, "I think it's a mutant of some kind. If it was a hybrid I'd be able to identify the half that isn't human." I took a shotgun and put it into a holster in my jacket.
We all met in the main room where I explained it all. I described him, and also explained that he must have some superhuman strength to hold up the claws. It was my theory that he could quite possibly be able toss a semi.
"How can you be sure of all this?" Robin asked.
"I have done this many times and 87.8 of the time I've been right. I'd say to trust my judgment," I explained.
"Whatever it is, we..." Cyborg began, but was abruptly cut off by the alarm.
"Trouble," Robin said.
"Curious," I said, "Do you say that every time the alarm goes off?"
Down at the second crime scene, the killer was gone again before we made it. This time, though, I started to search the area for clues. I took several notes on the recorder.
"The area which witnesses claim he took off is marked with slashes in materials like brick. Four large slash marks in a steel dumpster prove that the weapons reach above 8 on Moh's hardness scale and potentially could be a diamond like material," I said into the recorder, "The killer is much more dangerous than I had first suspected." I hit the stop button and put it in my pocket. Beast Boy came over to see what I was doing.
"Dude, look at that," he said, referring to the slashed dumpster.
"This is very disturbing," I said.
"How did he do it?" Beast Boy asked.
"His claws are very potent," I said, "They could reach as high as 10 on the Moh's scale."
"The what?" he asked.
"It's like a rating chart for how hard something is. There's only one material that's level 10, diamonds. They could punch a hole in a battleship," I explained.
"Wow," he said. He paused for a moment, "That's like, really bad right?"
"Uh, yeah," I said.
Back at the tower, I analyzed all of the data. To my surprise, there were no connections with the killings. They had been completely random. Now there was evidence to say that the killer is sadistic and has no motives. Naturally, this was a bad thing for us, because we couldn't predict his next victim. The alarm went off again. I grabbed a sword from a nearby case and quickly left the room.
For a third time, we were too late for it. I began to get very frustrated with it and couldn't draw anymore conclusive evidence. I slammed my fist into a wall and shattered the tile, smashing the concrete underneath.
"Alright, we've come out here 3 times now and I'm getting sick of this game," I grunted.
"I know," Raven said, "But we can't do anything about it. If we give up and he decides to wait around we might lose our chance to catch him."
"I'll be in the car," I muttered, and stormed away. I walked over to the car and leaned up against it. I knew we wouldn't catch him like this. He was just mocking us. I knew it wasn't a fight he was looking for. The other titans came over to the car.
"Nothing we haven't heard before," Robin said.
"This is messed up," Cyborg said. I opened the door and let the others get in and got in after them. Cyborg turned the car on and drove out.
"He's mocking us," I said.
"What?" Cyborg said.
"He's mocking us," I repeated, "He's not looking to challenge us. He just wants to dangle himself right in front of us and then pull out."
"You really think so?" Raven asked.
"I'm pretty s-" I started, but the car came to a sudden stop. We had hit something. I looked up. There was a person, about 511 and possibly 17 years old. He wore a long trench coat and on his hands were 4 foot long ivory colored claws. He picked the car up and tossed it 12 yards down the street where the car crashed into a building. We crawled out of the wreckage. There he was, standing in the road. People were already running and some were taking pictures.
"Titans, GO!" Robin said. They took off. It took me a second to realize what that had meant.
"Oh, right," I said, and ran to catch up with them. Starfire shot her energy bolts at him, And Raven tried to throw a car. He siderolled the bolts and caught the car. He swung it and hit Raven. Raven spiraled back and hit the ground. I took the shotgun from my jacket and fired at him. He put both claws in front of him and the bullets just bounced off. Robin threw a punch, but he blocked it. Cyborg tried to hit him from behind, but he caught Cyborg's arm and swung him over his shoulder. I tossed the shotgun to the side and pulled out the sword. I tried attacking him, but he was almost graceful with his claws. He could block and fight like a professional fencer. While I had him distracted, Robin took a birdarang and threw it. The killer noticed it and reflected it. It hit Robin clear through the thigh. Starfire threw several bolts at him quickly. Finally, someone hit him. He grunted and stumbled back. He took a tree from the ground and threw it, hitting Starfire and subsequently crushing her. I didn't want him to get away, but I didn't want her to be hurt either. So I ran to her aid and tossed the tree off. She had suffered a broken rib. "Go find cover, we'll finish him." She nodded and flew off, clutching her side. Robin was on the ground, his leg bleeding from the gash the birdarang made. I was the only one still standing and functional. "So, what do they call you?" I asked, trying to sound mockingly casual.
"Las Garras," he said. His voice was deep and a bit scratchy.
"Ah," I said, "I can see why." I saw Robin take the shotgun I had from the ground. I decided to distract Las Garras.
"What about you?" he asked.
"Biohazard," I said. "You're not human, are you?"
"No," he said, "But neither are you," he said.
"What makes you say that?" I asked.
"I just know," he said, "Well, not entirely human. You're a machine. But there's something inside of you. You've never been able to understand it." That's when Robin shot. The blast sent Las Garras to the ground. He rolled over. Blood dribbled from his mouth. I leaned over him and took a close look.
"He'll live," I said, "But not out here he won't." The cops and the ambulance arrived on cue and took Las Garras away. He turned his head to me on his way.
"See you around, Biohazard," he said. They loaded him into the ambulance truck and drove off. I helped Robin up.
"What did he mean when he said 'something inside of you'?" Robin asked. I looked at the ambulance truck as it turned and disappeared.
"I don't know," I said, "Not yet."